


Spinning in a world of dreams, chasing after the sun

by WildWolf25



Series: Shatt Week 2017 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: College AU, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Holt sibling shenanigans, Keith's doesn't actually make an appearance... due to a chicken sandwich incident, M/M, Pining, Shatt Week 2017, Shiro is so smitten this poor boy, also featuring that one obnoxious extended family member that everyone has at least one of, but he and Katie are dating, little bit of angst but they work it out, unexpected snuggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-16 12:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11829006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: “Are you busy this weekend?”“Not really.  Why?”  Shiro asked, highlighting a sentence in his book.“Could you be my boyfriend for a couple days?”Well.  That wasn’t something Shiro was expecting to hear.  He blinked and turned around in his chair, giving his roommate a stunned look.“Not, like, for real, of course.”  Matt said quickly, sitting up.  “Just pretend.”(In which Matt has a big mouth that gets him in trouble, Shiro helps him out, and much pining ensues)





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> This 4-chapter monstrosity is the reason I didn’t get all the days done for Shatt week. I had an idea and then it got out of hand (to be fair, fake dating seems to involve a decent amount of set-up). Although it does technically cover multiple days; Day 4: Free day, Day 5: Relationship Stuff (Fake Relationship, First Meeting, Family), and Day 6: School (College AU)
> 
> (title is from the song Tsuioku Merry Go Round by onelifecrew. Except that song is kinda sad all the way through and this has a happy ending because I’m weak sauce and don’t like leaving things sad)

Shiro was a bit surprised to come back to his dorm room only to find his roommate lying face-down on his bed without moving.  “Hey,” Shiro greeted, a bit of a question hanging on the end of the word.  Matt didn’t respond.  Shiro shut the door and set his keys down on his desk.  “Uh, you okay?”

Matt just groaned into his pillow.  

Shiro slid his backpack off and took a seat in his desk chair.  “Did you fall down the stairs again because you were looking at your phone?”

“That only happened  _ one time _ !”  Matt lifted his head to say before dropping his forehead onto the bed with a groan.  

“Did you run out of meal swipes at the dining hall before the end of the week?”  Shiro tried again.  He had done that himself.  Poor planning and study-munchies.  

“No.”  Matt mumbled into his pillow.

“Rough class?”  Shiro snapped his fingers.  “Group project?”  Those were the worst.

“No.”

A sudden thought struck Shiro.  “Did Sal’s dining hall run out of their Wednesday mac-and-cheese?”  Food of the gods, that stuff was.  

“Even worse.”  

Well, then, Shiro was out of ideas.  “Well, if you want to talk about it, I’ll be here.”  

Matt just made a grumbling sound like a discontent cat.  Shiro chuckled quietly and took out his physics textbook.  He only got a few paragraphs into his reading assignment when he heard Matt sigh behind him.  There was a few seconds of silence, then: “Are you busy this weekend?”  

“Not really.  Why?”  Shiro asked, highlighting a sentence in his book.

“Could you be my boyfriend for a couple days?”

Well.  That wasn’t something Shiro was expecting to hear.  He blinked and turned around in his chair, giving his roommate a stunned look.  

“Not, like, for real, of course.”  Matt said quickly, sitting up.  “Just pretend.”

“...Why?”  Shiro asked slowly, still confused.  

Matt groaned and flopped onto his back, arms spread out to the sides.  “I was teasing my sister about her boyfriend and she said something about ‘ _ at least I  _ **_have_ ** _ a boyfriend _ ’ and I panicked and said I was dating someone, in the family chat too, so they all saw it, and then my mom invited my fake partner over for dinner this weekend because they really want to meet this person, who doesn’t actually exist.”  He sighed.  

“Oh.  Wow.”  That was certainly a sticky situation.  Shiro thought about it.  “Sure, I’ll be your boyfriend for a weekend.”

Matt picked his head up to look down at him.  “Really?”  

“Sure.”  Shiro smiled.  “What are friends for?  Besides, we already live together.”  True, the two of them had only met at the beginning of this school year, when they were assigned to be roommates together at university.  It had been a little weird in the beginning, living with a stranger, but now they were actually pretty good friends.  

“You’re sure it won’t be weird?”  Matt asked.

“It’ll be fine.  If it’s around your family, it’s not like we’ll have to be handsy or anything.”  Shiro said.  “Besides, it’s just for one weekend, right?”

“Yeah, just one weekend.”  Matt nodded.  He paused and thought about it.  “Well, since it’s a three-day weekend, I think Mom is expecting me-- us, to stay two nights and three days.  We can always try to duck out early, cite a bunch of homework or something.”  

“That’s fine.”  Shiro said.  “Where does your family live?”  

“A couple states north of here.”  Matt replied.  “It’s about a six hour drive, sorry.  I usually take the bus back home, though, so it ends up being like eight hours.”  

“I have a car, I can drive us.”  Shiro offered.  “What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I didn’t offer to drive?”

“I can give you gas money.”  Matt said.  

“Sounds good.”  Shiro glanced at the clock on his bedside table.  “Hey, do you want to go get dinner?”  

Matt gave him a weird look.  “We’re only fake dating, remember?”

“Yeah, but we still need to work out logistics.”  Shiro pointed out.  “How long we’ve been dating, who asked who out, first date…”

“You seem to know a lot about this.”  Matt said, arching an eyebrow.  

“I’m just thinking about it logically.”  Shiro defended.  “What’s the first thing every family does when meeting a partner?  Grill them for details.  Our stories can’t conflict or they’ll know we’re lying.”

Matt winced at the thought.  “Yeah, that would get messy.”  He sighed and stood up, retrieving his keys off his desk.  “Alright, let’s get dinner and make up a date.”

~~~~~

Matt thought things might get awkward between them -- what else was supposed to happen, when you asked your roommate to be your fake boyfriend? -- but thankfully, Shiro seemed relaxed and at ease as the two of them left their dorm room and walked to Sal’s, the dining hall near the student center.  They chatted about a course that they happened to both be taking, taught by an absolutely horrible professor named Dr. Haggar, and as they passed some posters advertising a big football game that weekend, Shiro mentioned that if they left town early enough, they could probably avoid most of the game-day traffic.  Matt pointed out that doing that would mean more time acting at his parents’ house, but Shiro just shrugged and said he’d take that over sitting tied up in traffic.

At the dining hall, they scanned their student IDs to use a meal swipe, then went their separate ways for a few minutes while they loaded up their plates at the various food stations.  Once they had their food and found a table tucked away in an empty corner of the room, Shiro brought the topic up again.  “So, first date.  What should it be?”

Matt thought about it while he twirled some pasta onto his fork.  “Long walk on the beach?” 

Shiro snorted.  “It should probably be a little more realistic.  Something that sounds believable.  Unless, of course, you’re the type that loves long walks on the beach.”

“No, you’re right.  We’re three hundred miles inland.  Beaches aren’t exactly common.”  Matt said.  “So, what’s realistic?”  

“Well, let’s start at the beginning.”  Shiro said thoughtfully.  “How did we meet?”  

Matt looked up.  “Like, in real life, or for fake dating?”

“It can be both.”  Shiro said.  “Maybe if we just keep the framework of our relationship as how it is in real life, but add romantic touches to make it dating, it’ll be more believable.”

“That’s a good point.” Matt mused.  “So, met as roommates, became friends, fell in love?”  

“Sounds good.”  Shiro took a sip of his water.  “Which one of us confessed first?”  

“Hmm,” Matt propped his elbow up on the table and leaned his chin into his hand, thinking about it.  “Probably me, since I brought it up.”

“And how did you do it?”  Shiro asked.

“Knowing me, I’d probably just blurt out something stupid like ‘I like your face, wanna go out?’ or something.”  Matt sighed.  He didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.  

Shiro laughed.  “I’d find your nerdy romantic-ineptitude endearing enough to say yes.”  

“Or you’d just feel sorry for me.”  Matt rolled his eyes.

“No, I don’t really date people out of pity.”  Shiro said.

“Just fake date them.”  

“I only fake date good friends, not just people I pity.”  Shiro chuckled.  

“Have a lot of experience with that?”  Matt quirked an eyebrow up.

“First time for everything.”  Shiro shrugged.  “Moving on: first date?”  

Matt drummed his fingers on the tabletop, thinking.  “Here?  Like getting dinner together, and then a movie at the student center?”  He had done that with Shiro often enough, although to be fair, they usually met up with more friends once they got to the movie.  

“Sounds like a good first date.”  Shiro nodded.  “When did we start?”

“How long is a good amount of time to get to know each other beforehand?”  Matt asked.

“Depends.  Was it a crush at first sight or did it develop over time?”  Shiro asked.  

“Hm, over time.”  Matt said.  “I typically don’t get crushes on people I just meet.”  

“Same.”  Shiro nodded.  “Three months?”  

“Sure.”  Matt said.  “One to get to know each other, one to develop attraction and pine, and a couple of weeks of dancing around each other before I crack and ask you out.”

“With the winning line ‘I like your face, wanna go out?’”  Shiro cracked a smile at him.  

Matt flicked a potato chip at him.  “If you don’t like it, come up with something better.”

“No, I think that’d be cute.”  Shiro said.  “Objectively.”  He added hastily, then cleared his throat.  “So we started dating in… November?”  

“Sure.”  Matt said.  “Pick your favorite number for the date.”

“Hmm, seven?”  

“November seventh it is.”  Matt said.  “You’d better remember our anniversary, babe.”  

Shiro chuckled in amusement.  He speared a piece of melon on his fork.  “Speaking of that, what do you want to do about nicknames?  Personally I’m not a fan of ‘baby’, but ‘babe’ is fine.”

“Same.”  Matt agreed.  “Ooh, or we can be one of those couples with the ridiculous nicknames, like ‘sweetum-pie’ or ‘butter-toes’.”

“Who calls anyone ‘butter-toes’?”  Shiro gave him a bemused look.  

“Hey, it’s gotta be  _ someone’s  _ thing.”  Matt waved a fork.  “Anyway, what d’ya say, starshine?”

Shiro’s ears turned pink and he looked down at his plate, pushing a couple slices of fruit around.  “If you want to, that’s fine.  I might just stick with one, though, or just use your name.”  

“Okay.”  Matt shrugged.  “Just not ‘Mattie’.  That’s my sister’s childhood nickname for me, it’d be weird if my boyfriend called me that.”  

“Noted.”  Shiro said.  “What’s your sister’s name, actually?  And your parents’?  Seems like something I should know.”  

“My sister’s name is Katie.  She’s a year younger than me and a pain in the ass but I love her anyway.”  Matt chuckled.  “My mom’s name is Colleen and my dad’s name is Samuel.  He’s actually retired from the Air Force, he was a commander.”

“Oh god.”  Shiro paled.

“No, don’t worry, he’s actually really chill.”  Matt reassured him.  “I can’t imagine him giving anyone a shovel talk.  He’s a huge nerd.”  

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, then.”  Shiro quipped, pulling his slice of apple pie closer.

Matt stuck his tongue out at him.  “Oh, are you allergic to dogs?  We have a dog.  His name is Gunther.”

“I love dogs, actually.”  Shiro’s eyes brightened.  

“He’s big but a total sweetie.  Feel free to ditch me at any time to play with him instead, no one will think anything of it.”  Matt chuckled.  Gunther was probably the most popular Holt in the house.  “So, I know we’re not meeting your family, but just to cover all the bases, anything I should know?”

“Can’t think of anything much,” Shiro shrugged.  “My parents are divorced, and my dad moved back to Japan so I don’t see him a lot.  My mother is a pediatrician.  Oh, remember when you got sick and I bugged you to go to the student clinic?”

“Yeah?”

“Confession, I actually texted your symptoms to my mom and she said it sounded like a streptococcal infection.”  Shiro rubbed the back of his neck.  “Sorry for kind of going behind your back.  I got worried when you threw up twice in one night.”  

“Oh.”  Matt blinked, remembering that night.  He had been feeling like death warmed over for a few days prior to that, but brushed it off as a cold, until he started throwing up and developed a fever.  Even then, he had planned on powering through it and probably would have worked himself to death, had Shiro not practically dragged him to the student health center.  “That’s okay, don’t worry about it.  If it hadn’t been for you, I could have ended up getting seriously ill.”  

“That’s what I was worried about.”  Shiro said.  “You don’t seem the type to take care of your health, mister regularly-pulls-all-nighters.  No offense.”  

“None taken.”  Self-care was not his forte.  He looked down and pushed his fork through a bit of left-over marinara sauce on his plate.  He had almost forgotten why they were really there.  “So… how we met, when we started dating, first date, family stuff, nicknames… anything else we need to cover?”  

Shiro hummed thoughtfully.  “Not really… Oh.  Physical stuff.  Setting boundaries?”

“Good idea.”  Matt nodded.  He felt his ears turn pink -- traitorous pale skin -- despite his attempts to stay cool.  “Hand holding is fine.  I’m not sure what else would be family appropriate.”  

“What about… uh,” Shiro poked at his pie, refusing to look up.  “Kissing?”

Matt nearly choked on his sip of water.  Shit.  He had forgotten that was a thing to worry about.

“Not like, a full-on makeout,” Shiro said quickly.  “Just an occasional peck to really sell it.”

“I’m, uh, fine with that, if you are.”  Kissing could be platonic, right?  People kissed as a greeting in lots of countries.  “Cheek or… I guess lips, sure.”

“You’re okay with that?”  Shiro asked, glancing up at him.

Matt shrugged.  “I had to do a stage kiss in high school for the school play.  Can’t be that different, right?”  

“I guess.”  Shiro set his fork down, then picked it up again, rubbing his thumb along the handle.  “I don’t really know.  That’s more experience with it than I have.”  

“Really?”  Matt looked up.  “You’ve never kissed anyone?”

“No, never got around to it, I guess.”  Shiro shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but his ears were bright pink.  “Never really been asked out.”

“ _ How _ ?”  Matt sounded stunned.  Shiro looked up, confused.  Matt jumped a little, surprised at himself.  “I-I mean, you just seem like the type to have had lots of girlfriends.  Or boyfriends.  Or… whatever-friends.”

“Both works.”  Shiro said. “And no, I haven’t been in a relationship before.  Or even just kissed someone.  Have you?”

“...No.”  Matt admitted.  “Other than the one in the school play, I haven’t.”  

Shiro hummed noncommittally.  A beat of silence stretched between them.  “I’m gonna get more water.”  Shiro said suddenly, picking up his empty cup before heading for the drink machine.  

Matt nodded and turned back to his food, willing his cheeks to stop flushing.  They could be mature about this, they weren’t little kids.  But… if they were both embarrassed doing any sort of affectionate gestures around Matt’s family, they were going to know something was up.  They had to make this seem real.

When Shiro came back, Matt waited until he had taken a sip of water, set his glass down, and Matt had counted to ten before speaking up, clearing his throat.  “Do you think we should… practice?”

Shiro froze, looking up.  “Practice…?”

Matt made a vague, all-encompassing sort of gesture.  “The hand-holding and… stuff.”  Kissing, it was called kissing, and how could he hope to do it convincingly if he couldn’t even say the word?

“Oh, yeah.”  Shiro swallowed.  “That might be a good idea.”  

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them for a few moments, then Shiro cleared his throat, moved from the chair across the table from Matt to the one next to him, and found his hand under the table, glancing around them to make sure no one was looking.  “Like… that?”  

“Uh…” Matt thought about the few romantic movies Katie and his mom had made him sit through at family movie nights.  He adjusted their hands, clumsily slotting their fingers together.  “How’s that?”

“That feels better, yeah,” Shiro lifted his free hand and pulled his plate across the table, but he barely picked at his food.  Matt really hoped his hand wasn’t disgustingly sweaty.  Would it be more gross if he wiped his hand off just to be sure?  Or would that just draw attention to it?  Augh, this was making his head hurt...  

“This is kinda hard to eat this way.”  Matt said finally.  His appetite had mysteriously disappeared, but he felt like he should eat just to have something to do.

“It is.  I don’t know how couples do it.”  Shiro frowned as he tried to pick up a grape with the fork in his left hand, but just ended up pushing it around the plate with uncoordinated movements.  

Matt squeezed his hand, reassuring him without even thinking.  “We can work on it later, or just not do it.”  He offered, untangling their fingers.  “I’m sure there are couples that don’t.”

“That’s a good point.”  Shiro conceded, switching his fork to his right hand.  Matt noticed he didn’t move back to the chair across the table from him, but didn’t think much of it.  He probably just didn’t want to get up again.

When they had finished eating, they took their dishes to the drop-off window and left the dining hall.  It had gotten dark, and the air was much chillier than when they had walked here a couple hours ago.  There were only a few people out and about, heading back from late classes or on their way to the dining hall for dinner themselves.  After they had been walking for a few minutes, Shiro took his hand out of his pocket and offered it to Matt.  “Practice makes perfect?”  

Knowing they had to get used to this, Matt nodded and accepted his hand.  “Practice makes perfect.”  This was much more comfortable than trying to eat one-handed.  After a few awkward paces, they fell into step with each other, their fingers threaded together between them.

“I didn’t think holding hands would be this warm.”  Matt said, before he could stop himself.  He winced internally.  Crap, way to make it awkward.  But Shiro just smiled.

“Yeah.  It’s… kinda nice.”  He said quietly, giving Matt’s hand a little squeeze.  

When they got back to their dorm building, they let go of each other’s hands so Shiro could dig his student ID out of his pocket and unlock the building.  He opened the door and held it open for Matt.  Once they were past the RA desk and had found their hallway empty, Matt hesitantly reached for his hand again.  “Practice makes perfect?”

“Practice makes perfect.”  Shiro took his hand, fingers still a little clumsy as he threaded them together with Matt’s.  

Matt unlocked their door, since his right hand was free, and they went inside.  He started to pull his hand away again but Shiro tightened his grip just a little bit, stopping him.  He looked up and found Shiro staring down at him, looking oddly determined.  Before Matt could ask what was wrong, Shiro leaned in and went for his lips.  He hesitated for only a fraction of a second, then moved to kiss Matt’s cheek.  It was over as quick as it had come, and then Shiro was pulling back again.  Was it just Matt’s imagination, or were his ears red?  “Practice makes perfect.”

Matt nodded, swallowing nervously.  Before he could think to regret it, he leaned up and pressed a quick peck to Shiro’s lips.  “Practice makes perfect.”

If Shiro’s ears weren’t red before, they definitely were now, and Matt was willing to bet his matched as well.  

“I’m gonna go shower.”  Shiro said, then quickly went on.  “Not, uh, because of that or anything, I just need to do it before I go to bed.”

“Yeah, no, I get it.”  Matt laughed nervously.  “Yeah, um, have a good one.”  He could have kicked himself as soon as he said it.   _ Have a good one?  One what?  Shower? _

“Thanks.”  Shiro hastily grabbed his bathrobe and shower caddy.  “I’ll just.  Uh.  See you later, then.”  

Matt made sure he was out the door and likely down the hall before he flopped down on his bed and groaned into his pillow.  Why was he so bad at this?

~~~~~

Matt was starting to regret making his  _ roommate  _ his fake boyfriend, because it gave him no place to hide when things got awkward.  As such, all he could do was put on his headphones and blast music while he worked on his biology homework.  He didn’t hear the door open, or Shiro call his name, and only tuned back in when he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder.  He looked up, slipping his headphones off.  “Yeah?”

“I was doing some thinking.”  Shiro said, now dressed in his pajamas.  “This whole fake dating thing might be a little harder than I thought.”

“You don’t have to do it.”  Matt said.  “I can always say something came up or you got sick or something.”  He could just imagine Katie’s smug look and all the teasing he would have to endure from that, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.

“No, I said I would do it, and I’m a man of my word.”  Shiro said, running a comb through his hair.  “But I’m thinking we might have to practice the hand-holding and stuff a bit more, just to get used to it.”  

“That’s probably a good idea.”  Matt admitted.  They couldn’t afford to look awkward in this when they were supposed to be together.  

“Yeah, so,” Shiro grabbed a book and sat down on his bed, back against the wall and his legs sticking off the side.  “Want to study over here?”  He asked, patting the spot next to him.

“Sure.”  Matt willed his ears to stay unflushed as he gathered up his book and lab packet, joining him on the bed.  He took a seat next to Shiro, just a few centimeters of space between them, and surprisingly, it was Shiro who closed the distance, pressing up right against his side.  Hesitantly, Matt reached down and found his hand, and they threaded their fingers together and rested them where their thighs met.  

This was easier, Matt thought.  They were both absorbed in their own work, just sitting quietly together.  It didn’t have to be stressful, full of what-if’s and is-this-right’s.  Shiro’s hand was warm in his, and several minutes later when Shiro’s thumb began to absently rub over Matt’s knuckle as he read his book, it actually felt nice.  Maybe this would work out after all, he thought.  He kept trying to focus on his bio homework, but the steady, soft, back and forth of Shiro’s thumb over his skin was making it hard to concentrate, but not in a distracting way.  More like it was lulling him to sleep.  It must have been later than he thought, because he was starting to feel tired.  That could be the result of pulling another late night the night before, though.  Maybe he should take a break for a bit, rest his eyes for just a little while… 

~~~~~

Shiro felt something against his shoulder and looked down to find that Matt had dozed off and was leaning against him, pencil stilled mid-sentence on the notebook in his lap.  Shiro turned back to his book; he would let Matt sleep for a little while.  He knew he had been up late the night before working on some geology essay.  It wasn’t his place to say, but he didn’t really like that Matt neglected sleep so often.  Not because it kept him awake too -- Shiro was a pretty heavy sleeper, and a simple sleep mask from the dollar store was enough to block out the light from Matt’s small desk lamp on the nights he didn’t spend in the library -- but because he worried about Matt making himself sick again.  Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of his roommate emptying the contents of his stomach into the trashcan next to the door in the dark was not an experience he was eager to repeat.  He really cared about Matt, maybe more than just as a roommate.  It must have been because they were friends, now, too.  Surely that was it.  Shiro cared deeply for his friends, and it was only natural that he would care so much about Matt since he lived with him and saw him more often than his other friends.  That had to be it.  

He folded down the corner of the page he was on, having reached the end of the chapter.  He wasn’t sure when his thumb had started stroking over the back of Matt’s knuckle, and he wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to stop doing it.  Must be the repetitive motion, like spinning a pencil between his fingers.  He watched the slow, steady rise and fall of Matt’s chest and could feel the little puff of his breath where his nose was resting against Shiro’s arm.  Shiro lifted his other hand to carefully -- oh so carefully -- brush a few stray hairs away from Matt’s face, tucking them behind his ear.  Shiro wasn’t sure how Matt hadn’t woken up yet; surely he could feel or hear the pounding of Shiro’s heart, but still he slept on.  

Shiro felt himself smile.  He had spent countless nights sleeping not even ten feet away from Matt, and yet he had never before noticed how cute he looked when he slept.  It was funny, he thought, how people’s sleeping faces looked so different than when they were awake.  Matt’s brow was usually furrowed in concentration, or his mouth was always pulled back in a smile or a playful smirk.  Now, though, he was relaxed, his expression open while he slept.  It made him look younger, somehow.  

Struck by a sudden urge -- practice makes perfect, after all -- Shiro leaned down and pressed his lips to Matt’s forehead, so softly that he barely touched him.  Not even that managed to wake him.  Shiro chuckled and pulled back, lightly squeezing Matt’s hand.  “Matt, wake up…”  He had to call his name a few more times before Matt stirred.  He let out a quiet, sleepy sound and pushed his face into Shiro’s shoulder.  Shiro laughed softly.  “Come on, Matt, you can’t sleep sitting up…”

“Watch me.”  Matt muttered, refusing to open his eyes.  

“You’re going to hurt your neck,” Shiro told him, reaching up to run his thumb down the length of Matt’s neck, exposed at this angle.  “And then you’re going to complain about it.”  

“You know me so well.”  Matt sighed, shifting only enough tuck his legs up off to the side, leaning more fully into Shiro and resting his cheek more comfortably on his shoulder.  Shiro chuckled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, rubbing his arm slowly.  

“Do you want me to carry you over to your bed?”  Shiro asked.  Did that count as fake boyfriend practice?  He couldn’t imagine a scenario where that might come up, but it would be good to be prepared in case it did.  Matt didn’t really reply, other than a sleepy, ambiguous-sounding hum.  Shiro gave him a few minutes, but when it was obvious Matt wasn’t going to wake up, he carefully shifted their books off of their laps and moved Matt’s legs across his own, then slid off the bed and picked him up.  He was a little heavier than he had expected, but nothing Shiro couldn’t handle, and he wasn’t bringing him very far.  He set him down on his bed and worked the blankets out from under his body, covering him instead.  Matt burrowed further into the blankets, only barely awake.  Shiro brushed his hair away from his face and carefully slid his glasses off where they were perched crookedly on the end of his nose, folding them up and setting them on the small table next to his bed.  With that, he stood up and crossed the room to turn off the light, then crawled into his own bed.  It was just practice, he told himself.  Just practice.  


	2. Meet the Holts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro meets the Holt family and Matt experiences the betrayal that comes with older siblings moving out and coming back for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon that the Holt siblings are the type to converse in memes with their parents none the wiser, most of the time. Samuel tries to be hip with the kidz slang, so he tries to tell his wife that “dinner tonight is highkey on fleek, honey!” while his kids groan and attempt to hide under the table. Sometimes he intentionally misuses words just to mess with them, though.

The next morning, they left around nine in the morning and walked to the student parking lot where Shiro’s car was parked.  They drove up to Matt’s family’s house, blasting a couple of CD’s from bands they both liked as they went, and they were pulling into the driveway just a little before four in the afternoon.  

When they drove up, Katie was sitting on the porch swing reading a book, her hair tied in a side ponytail, one bare foot tucked under her and the other rubbing the side of the large gray dog curled up under the swing.  Gunther lifted his head and barked once at the unfamiliar car, the sound making her look up from her book.  Matt waved as he got out of the car, and Gunther barked again as he got to his feet, barrelling toward Matt to put his paws up on his shoulders and try to lick his face.  

“Hey, buddy, I’ve missed you too… oh ugh, okay, not the mouth…” Matt twisted his face away from the dog’s slobbering tongue.  

“Mom, nerd-lord’s back and he’s frenching the dog!”  Katie called toward the open window.

“I am not!”  Matt retorted, blocking Gunther’s attempt to go for his face again.

“I sure hope not.”  Shiro chuckled, shutting the car door as he got out.  “That’s my job.”  

Matt tossed him an exasperated look, but it did the trick.  Katie’s mouth dropped open, her eyes flicking between Shiro and Matt as the former walked around the car and took his hand, other hand scratching between Gunther’s ears fondly.  Katie stared at him.  “You’re… real…”

“I am, but most people just call me Shiro.”  Shiro said.  “You’re Katie, right?”

“Yeah,” she seemed to shake herself off.  “Yeah, sorry.  It’s just… I thought Matt was lying about having a boyfriend.”  

“I told you I wasn’t lying.”  Matt huffed.  

“You also told me you didn’t eat my Halloween candy, yet what did I find in your room every year?”  Katie said pointedly.

“That’s the sugar tax for you making me carry your bag.”  Matt replied.  

The front door opened and a woman with the same auburn-colored hair and hazel eyes as her children appeared.  “Oh, you’re here,” she turned and called back into the house.  “Sam, they’re here!”  

“Is he real?”  They heard a voice call from within the house, and the woman quickly closed the door, looking sheepish.  

She cleared her throat and greeted the two of them with a smile.  “Matt, it’s good to see you again, honey.  And you must be the boyfriend we heard about!”

“That would be me,” Shiro laughed a little nervously.  “I’m Shiro, nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“Oh please, call me Colleen,” she said, shaking his hand.  

“Dear, why’d you close the door on me?”  A tall man with greying hair and square glasses came outside.  He stopped upon seeing Shiro, and then whispered something that sounded like “you owe me five bucks” to his daughter before striding forward and introducing himself as Samuel Holt.

“You’re a bit early for dinner, but there’s some lemonade in the kitchen if you boys are thirsty.”  Colleen smiled.

“I’ll bet Matt is  _ real  _ thirsty.”  Katie snorted.  Matt glared at her, but their parents didn’t seem to have caught the innuendo, as Samuel just suggested they all have some lemonade together.

“Sounds like  _ you’re  _ the one that’s thirsty.”  Matt patted the dog and pointed at his sister.  “Gunther, attack!”

The dog cocked his head to the side, looking puzzled.  

“You abandoned him and ran off to college.”  Katie smirked, crossing her arms.  “I’m his favorite now.”  

“I think his favorite is the one person in this family who doesn’t put silly hats on him.”  Colleen quipped.

“Gunther, come on, boy,” Matt crouched down next to the dog and pointed at Katie again.  “Attack--  _ no not me you big goof! _ ”  Matt fell backwards as Gunther jumped him again, having decided they were playing.

Once they were finally inside the house, Matt turned to Shiro and took the small duffle bag from his hands, giving him a peck on the cheek as he told him he would bring it upstairs for him.  Matt disappeared up the staircase while Shiro followed the rest of the Holts into the kitchen.  Katie plunked herself down into a stool at the breakfast bar that was obviously claimed as hers, probably because it was the closest to the outlet that her laptop was plugged into.  Colleen and Samuel both bustled around the kitchen getting out glasses and the lemonade from the refrigerator, while Shiro hovered awkwardly next to the breakfast bar before Colleen told him to have a seat.  He sat on the stool on the end, leaving a space for Matt on the stool next to his sister.  

Colleen set the pitcher of lemonade on the counter, looking up in the direction of the staircase.  “Do you think we should have mentioned…?”

“Nah, let him figure it out himself.”  Katie smirked.  Not even a second later, they heard an indignant “ _ WHAT _ ” come from upstairs, and Katie snorted.  

Matt’s footsteps thumped down the staircase and he came around the corner soon after.  “You  _ stole  _ my  _ room _ ?!”

“It’s bigger.”  Katie shrugged.

“ _ I know _ !”  

“To be fair, honey, you weren’t using it.”  Colleen pointed out, pouring a glass of lemonade for Shiro and setting it in front of him.  “Plus, when your dad put all the air conditioning units in the windows for the summer, he forgot you were gone and put yours in first, then didn’t want to take it out.”

“Whoops.”  Samuel lifted his arms in a shrug, but his smile didn’t look very apologetic.

“So you decided moving all the furniture and clothes and books from one room to the other was easier than just taking out one AC unit?”  Matt raised an eyebrow.

“Actually, I kept your bed because it’s bigger, and we ditched the twin one, and Mom re-did my old room into a guest room.”  Katie said.

“Now we have somewhere nice for Opa and Oma to stay when they visit!”  Colleen added.  “Instead of that lumpy old sofa-bed in the basement.  You know how your Opa’s back is getting, these days...”

Matt dropped into the open chair with a groan.  “I can’t believe this.  The injustice of it all.  I leave for one semester and they change everything…” He sighed dramatically.

Shiro patted his shoulder, somewhere between sympathetic and condescending.  “Well, you don’t live at home and your sister does, so it makes sense that she would get the bigger room now that you aren’t using it.”

Matt placed a hand on his chest and gave Shiro an offended look, while Katie grinned broadly.  “I like this one.”  She said, shooting Shiro a thumbs-up.

“And where is  _ your  _ boyfriend, by the way?”  Matt rounded on her.  “Thought I was finally going to get to meet him.”

“Working, tonight.”  Katie said, turning back to her laptop.  

“I bet.”  Matt smirked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  

“I think you made him up.”  Matt said.

“God, I’m not  _ that  _ sad.”  She rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out of her pocket, thumbing through the photos.  “See?  He’s definitely real.”  Turning her phone around, she showed him a picture of her in a sparkly pink dress standing next to a dark-haired guy with a neat black suit and a red tie, the rose pinned to his lapel matching the corsage on her wrist.  His arm was around her waist, and a banner behind them read  _ Lions Homecoming Dance _ .  

“Sounds fake but okay.”  Matt said, sitting back.  Katie snorted in amusement.

“Keith’s a lovely boy,” Colleen smiled.  “His family moved into town just this school year, that’s why you wouldn’t have met him.  But he’s been around for dinner several times, and his mother is in my book club.”

“And he likes motorcycles,” Samuel added.  “He’s working on fixing up this nice little Yamaha he found at a junkyard, and when Katie told him I was an engineer in the Air Force, he came to ask me for some pointers about the engine.  Very nice kid, very responsible.”

“He looks like he needs a haircut.”  Matt said, eyeing the photo critically.  

“Well,  _ I  _ think it’s cute.”  Katie huffed, turning off the phone.  

“But, you know, Mattie,” Colleen said.  “We all know Keith pretty well, so we were surprised when you said out of the blue that you were dating someone too.  You’ve never mentioned it before.”

“It’s uh, a new development.”  Matt said nervously.  

Shiro blinked, giving him an odd look.  Were they changing their story?  He noticed the Holts looking at him and tried to neutralize his expression, but the damage was already done, so he cleared his throat.  “One month is pushing the limit on ‘new’...” 

“A whole  _ month _ ?”  Katie stared at her brother.  “And you didn’t say  _ anything _ ?”

“Maybe I don’t feel the need to tell the whole family the details of my love life.”  Matt defended, ears going pink.

“That’s alright, we’ll just get it from him directly.”  Samuel leaned on the countertop, winking at Shiro.  “So, how’d you two meet?”

“We’re roommates, actually, so we met on move-in day.”  Shiro said.  That much was true.  “And then we became friends, and then, well, it kind of went from there.”  Not entirely untrue.

“Ooh, already living together?”  Katie waggled her eyebrows at him, and their parents shared a surprised look.  

“Not like that.”  Matt said quickly.  “Two beds, two sides of the room, nothing inappropriate whatsoever.”  

“Yes, two sides of the room, one of which is clean and the other of which is covered in stacks of books, coffee cups, and packages of instant ramen.”  Shiro quipped, trying to move the conversation away for his and Matt’s alleged possible sex life.  “Like I could even get to your side…”

His mother nodded, looking satisfied, then paused.  “Just  _ how  _ often does he eat that instant ramen?”  She asked Shiro, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Not that often--”

“Maybe every other night or so.”  Shiro cut across Matt’s protest.

“Hey!”

“Oh good heavens.”  Colleen shook her head.  “I’m sending you boys back with food.  That is just too much salt.”  

“Matches his personality.”  Katie snorted.

“Speaking of food, we should probably start on dinner.”  Samuel said.  “I’ll go man the grill.  Katie, you can help your mom with the kugel.  Matt, there are some cherry tomatoes out back that need to be picked, and then make a salad.”

“What can I do?”  Shiro asked.

“You’re our guest, you can just sit and rest.”  Colleen patted his hand.

“I’m a guest too,”  Matt groused, taking a bowl out of the cabinet.  “Since you gave away my room and all.”  

“A son is never a guest in his parents’ home, only family.” Samuel said, ruffling his hair.  Matt grinned wryly and stuck his tongue out at him on his way out the back door, clearly not actually upset.  

“I’d like to help,” Shiro tried again while Samuel took some meat out of the fridge and headed out the back door as well.  “I like cooking.  I’m not very good at it, but I’d like to get better.”

“Well, then, wash your hands and join in.”  Colleen smiled.  “Have you ever made noodle kugel before?

One hour, an explanation of the term ‘al dente’, Shiro nearly chopping his thumb off, the Holt siblings trying to outdo each other with ‘tossing salad’ jokes before their mother caught on, and one denied cinnamon challenge later, they were all sitting down at the dining room table with Kosher hamburgers, a noodle casserole, and a fresh salad made from Samuel’s backyard garden.  The food was absolutely delicious, and Shiro hadn’t realized just how much he had missed having a home-cooked meal since being away at college.  Saying so earned him Colleen wrapping up the leftovers and insisting he take them when they left.

They helped wash and dry the dishes, then Matt grabbed Shiro’s hand and told his parents they were going to walk to the park.

“Don’t make out in the tube slide, Officer Iverson checks it.”  Katie warned.

“She’s just saying that because he caught her and Keith doing that last month.”  Samuel whispered slyly.  

“That was  _ one time _ , and he wasn’t supposed to tell you!”  Katie threw her hands up in frustration.  “What ever happened to police confidentiality in this town?”  

“No park make-outs, got it.”  Matt touched his fingers to his temple in a mock salute.  “We’ll be back!”  

They left the house, hand in hand, and turned the corner at the end of the block before Matt sighed in relief and let go of Shiro’s hand.  “Whew.  I think they bought it.”

Shiro’s hand suddenly felt cold, so he shoved it in his pocket.  “Your family is really nice.”  He said quietly.  “I feel guilty, lying to them like this.”

Matt looked down and kicked a pebble across the sidewalk.  “I know.  I feel guilty about it too.  I probably should have just been straight with them and fessed up.  We’re in too deep, now.”  

~~~~~

After walking around the park -- a trip which consisted of Shiro daring Matt that he couldn’t fit in the baby swing, threatening to walk home and leave him there, realizing he didn’t actually know how to get back to Matt’s house, and subsequently helping pull him out of the aforementioned baby swing -- the sun had set and they decided to walk home again.  When they were about halfway down the block, Matt reached for his hand, and Shiro’s heart leapt before getting stuck in his throat when he realized Matt was only doing it for appearance’s sake.

“We’re back!”  Matt called out, kicking his shoes off as Shiro shut the door behind them.  

“In the backyard!”  Samuel’s voice called from the back of the house.  When they came around the corner, they saw that the backdoor was open aside from the screen door, and that the Holts were sitting on a stone patio around a small fire pit table.

“Hey, bring another chocolate bar with you if you come out!”  Katie told them.  

“Why, did you shove the entire thing in your face?”  Matt smirked, snatching a chocolate bar off the counter with the hand that wasn’t holding Shiro’s.  

“Rude.”  Katie huffed, rotating the marshmallow she was roasting over the fire.

“That would be me that got a little carried away with the chocolate.”  Samuel raised a hand, looking guilty.  “Grab some sticks and join us, boys!”  

“What’s the big occasion?  Or did you just bust out the fire pit to welcome home your favorite son?”  Matt asked, handing the chocolate bar to his father and plopping down on the empty deck lounge turned sideways.  They only had four actual chairs, so the lounge was obviously where put there for him and Shiro to sit on.  

“Aunt Marie called and said she’s going to be stopping by tomorrow.”  Colleen sighed.  “You how she is; if it looks like we have any firewood, she’ll insist we have a fire, and then she’ll never leave.”

“So we’re destroying the evidence tonight.”  Katie added, patting a small stack of cut logs.  

“Noooo…” Matt groaned dramatically.  “Why is she coming by?”

“She went down to visit Opa and Oma, and said she’ll be passing through the area tomorrow on her way back.”  Samuel said.  “And, you know Marie, she just does what she wants, can’t be reasoned with.”

“I even told her we had company,” Colleen huffed, spearing a marshmallow on a stick and handing it to Shiro, who thanked her.  “She just said ‘great, I love meeting new people’.”  

“She’s bringing the minions, too.”  Katie made a face.

“I thought she said to stop calling her grandkids ‘the minions’.”  Matt pointed out.  

“Well she’s not here right now, is she?”  Katie retorted.  “And I’ll stop calling them minions when they stop acting like minions.”  

Matt turned to Shiro.  “Aunt Marie is… well, not even my aunt, actually.  She’s my mom’s cousin, but she lives nearby so we see her at family parties all the time anyway.  She’s a total busybody and her hobbies include nitpicking, nagging, and sucking the joy out of life.”

“Honey, she’s a perfectly lovely lady.”  Colleen said.  The rest of the Holts stared at her.  The fire crackled in the silence.  She cleared her throat.  “Well, you aren’t wrong, but she  _ is _ family, technically.”

“I’m sure there are many lovely qualities about her, deep down.”  Samuel patted her knee.  “Deep,  _ deep _ down.”

“That will do, dear.”

“Well, I’ll try to withhold judgement until I meet her myself.”  Shiro said.  “It will be nice to meet any of Matt’s extended family.”  Oh boy.   _ That  _ was a hurdle he hadn’t planned on encountering on this trip.

Katie snorted.  “Oh he is gonna have a fun time tomorrow…”

After that, they moved on to other conversation topics.  Shiro asked Samuel about being in the Air Force, their parents tried to wheedle information about school out of Katie, and Matt told his parents about some of the classes he was taking.  Eventually, Shiro felt himself starting to nod off; driving for a long time tended to make him tired, even if the driving had been easy.  The fourth time he found himself dozing off while sitting upright, he gave in and just leaned against Matt’s shoulder, winding an arm around his waist for balance.

“You sleepy, starshine?”  Matt asked quietly.

“Mm,”

“Want to go to bed?”  

“I’ll go whenever you do.”  Shiro said, burying his nose in Matt’s sweatshirt.  

“You can’t fall asleep out here,” Matt chuckled.  “How would I get you upstairs?”

“I carried you to bed last night, now it’s your turn.”  Shiro groused.

“You’re like twice my weight!”  

“Rude.  How dare you call your boyfriend fat…” Shiro chuckled against his shoulder.

“You’re not fat, Matt’s just weak.”  Katie quipped, drawing Shiro’s attention back to the fact that they were not, in fact, alone, and that he probably shouldn’t be acting this touchy-feely in front of Matt’s parents.  He sat up regretfully, still feeling tired.  Matt noticed, and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek, making Shiro suddenly grateful that the flickering light of the fire probably hid his blush.  

“We can go to bed.”  Matt said.  “Mom, where do you want us staying?”

“You boys can take the guest room, in Katie’s old bedroom.”  Colleen said.  “We put a double in there, so I hope you don’t mind sharing.”

“No funny business in there, though.”  Samuel waved a stern finger at them, eyes glinting playfully in the firelight.  “Or we’ll tell Aunt Marie your college address and mention that you’d  _ love  _ to see her more often.”

Matt gasped.  “Dad, you wouldn’t…”

“Don’t try me, son.  No fooling around in my house, you hear?”

“Oh please, they won’t get up to anything,” Colleen waved a hand at them.  “Look at poor Shiro, he’s nearly asleep on his feet.  Just let him go to bed.”

Shiro raised his hand.  “Poor Shiro likes the way you think, ma’am.”

“Oh goodness, get him to bed.”  Colleen laughed quietly.  “Goodnight, boys!”        

As they slipped back into the house, they thought they heard Colleen whisper fondly “they’re cute” and a snort that sounded like it came from Katie.  Shiro wasn’t particularly awake enough to care much, though.  He let Matt lead him by the hand through the dark house, not knowing where he was going, and followed him up a set of stairs to the second floor.  

Matt turned on a light in one of the bedrooms and looked around, saying “huh, this is different,” while Shiro made a beeline for the bed made up with a burnt-orange duvet and more pillows than two people could possible have use for.  No sooner had he flopped down on it than Matt had chucked a toothbrush in his direction.  “Get up and brush your teeth.”

“You can shove that up your ass.”  Shiro grumbled, ignoring the toothbrush.  

“Can’t, Dad said no fooling around.”  Matt replied flippantly.  He patted Shiro’s butt.  “Up.  Your teeth are covered in sugar.”

Shiro hauled himself upright with a groan, picked up the toothbrush, and followed Matt to the bathroom down the hall.  The bathroom had clearly not changed much since Matt and Katie were small children, as everything seemed to be space-themed, from the star-embroidered hand-towel to the rocket-ship on the shower curtain.  One wall looked like it had been painted as a joint effort between the kids and an adult, most likely Samuel, and featured colorful sponge-painted planets, stars, a rocket, and a little green alien.  Matt seemed embarrassed by the decor and stammered out something about the two of them liking space as kids, but Shiro thought it was adorable and told him so, which just made Matt blush harder.

Back in the guest room, the two came to an unspoken decision to change into their pajamas in opposite corners of the room, facing the walls.  Shiro flopped into bed gratefully, and Matt chuckled at him as he turned off the light and climbed into bed, his phone in his hand.  Shiro was too tired to be very embarrassed about sharing a bed with someone he was only friends with.  Then again, he supposed it didn’t really matter; he and Matt already slept in the same room, after all.  He already knew he didn’t snore or sleep-talk or anything.  

Both of them lay quietly in the dark on their respective sides, subconsciously putting as much space between them as possible.  Matt must not have been tired, yet, as he was doing something on his phone with the device balanced on his chest and the brightness turned down.  Even so, Shiro found the low glow of the phone screen distracting when he was trying to fall asleep.  Barely awake, he reached for Matt’s phone and pulled it out of his hand, leaning over him to put it on the bedside table.  “Go t’ sleep…” he muttered, flopping down again right where he was.  

Matt didn’t say anything, nor move, but Shiro was asleep too soon to think much of it.  

~~~~~

Shiro awoke to the most obnoxious bird he had ever heard twittering in the tree outside.  Since when was there a tree outside his dorm room?  They were up on the fifth floor, and birds didn’t usually bother going that high up...  

He felt, rather than heard, someone sigh next to him, his arm rising and falling with the person’s breath.  “Glad to see that stupid bird is still around…” Matt’s voice grumbled from somewhere very close to him, close enough to practically feel the vibrations of his voice under his ear.

Wait…

Shiro’s eyes blinked open and he found himself looking down at a chest that was wearing a gray t-shirt with a green alien face on it.  That was not his t-shirt.  Nor was that his chest.  

Shiro sat up quickly and realized with horror that he had been sleeping practically on top of Matt in a position that couldn’t be called anything other than ‘cuddling’, his head resting on his shoulder and an arm thrown across Matt’s chest, legs tangled together.  His sleep-fogged brain had only just processed the sight and he was moving to put some space between them when he noticed Matt regarding him with a flat expression.  “Oh, please, don’t move on my account.”  

“Wh… how…?”  Shiro stuttered, feeling his cheeks grow hot.  

“I was minding my own business, browsing reddit, when someone  _ rudely  _ took my phone and put it on the table before proceeding to pin me down with an arm and just sleep on me.”  Matt informed him, a teasing glint in his eye the only sign that he wasn’t truly angry.  “Kinda my fault; I should have been more courteous with the light, but wow, cuddle-monster, you sleep like the  _ dead _ .  I don’t think you moved an inch all night.”  

“Oh my god…” Shiro rubbed his hand over his burning face.  “I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t sweat it too much,” Matt shrugged, sliding off the bed and ruffling his own hair over his ears to hide how pink they were.  “You were pretty out of it last night.”

“I tend to get that way after driving a long distance…” Shiro sighed.

“Tired?  Or cuddly?”  Matt asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

“Tired.”  Shiro said quickly.  He hadn’t considered himself ‘cuddly’, but he had also never shared a bed with anyone before.  Maybe he would have to put some of those extra pillows between them tonight, just in case.  

“Well, good thing it seems you got a pretty good sleep.”  Matt said, stretching and yawning.  “Let’s go see what’s for breakfast.”  

They went downstairs in their pajamas and found Samuel and Colleen in the kitchen, the former making scrambled eggs and pancakes and the latter drinking a cup of coffee while pouring over the newspaper.  

“Morning,” Matt yawned.  “Gremlin still asleep?”

“Good morning,” Colleen said, turning a page in her paper.  “And yes, your sister is still asleep.”  

A sly grin spread across Matt’s face and he crouched down, whispering “Gunther, c’mere boy!”  The dog trotted after Matt, both of them heading upstairs for God only knew what, as far as Shiro was concerned.  He took a seat at the breakfast bar in the same place he had sat the other afternoon, feeling awkward being around Matt’s parents without him.  

“Morning, Shiro,” Samuel smiled, flipping a pancake.  “What would you like for breakfast?  We’ve got pancakes and eggs here, or toast, cereal, coffee…”

“Whatever you’re making is fine.”  Shiro said, not wanting to be a bother.  

“Got some pancakes here,” Samuel said, sliding a plate toward him.  “Help yourself to any of the jams or the syrup--”

A shriek echoed from upstairs, followed by “ _ MATT _ !” and then a  _ thunk _ .  Matt came skidding around the corner and down the stairs, Gunther loping behind him.  

“What did you do?”  Colleen sighed.  

“ _ I  _ didn’t do anything.”  Matt grinned mischievously and crouched down to scratch behind Gunther’s ears.  “Gunther just wanted to give her a big ol’ good morning kiss, didn’tcha boy?”

Gunther just barked in reply, tail thumping against the kitchen floor.

“Careful, son,” Samuel chuckled.  “You’re toeing the line of breaking the April Fools Treaty.”

“The April Fools Treaty?”  Shiro asked, bemused.  

“The treaty that put an end to the Great Prank War of summer ‘09,” Samuel said, making a sweeping, dramatic gesture like he was announcing a headline.  “The carnage was brought to new heights that year, from green-dyed hair to mayonnaise Oreos.  Shaving cream in crevices it should never be.  Googly eyes on the dog’s butt.”

“That chicken vase from your mother in ruins.”  Colleen added.

“Dear, you hated that vase.”  

“The only good thing to come from your ridiculous prank war.”  She muttered.

“Anyway,” Samuel turned back to Shiro.  “The gist of it is, bored children with too much brains and time on their hands make for some very inventive pranksters, and I’m not a man to back down from a challenge even if that challenge comes from my own children.”

“He made us who we are today.”  Matt wiped a fake tear away from his eyes.  

“But then  _ that  _ happened,” Colleen pointed up at the ceiling, where there was a barely-noticeable dent in the plaster and what looked like scorch marks around it.  “And I decided these three needed to be limited to pulling pranks on only  _ one  _ day of the year, April Fools Day.”

“You say that like  _ you  _ don’t have some pranks up your sleeve, too, Mom.”  Matt nudged his mother with his elbow.

“Even so,  _ I  _ can contain myself.”  Colleen huffed dramatically, folding up her newspaper and getting up to wash her coffee mug.  

There was a series of thumps from the stairs behind them, and a moment later Katie came around the corner in a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt that read  _ Don’t Stop Believing...in Pluto _ , her hair sticking up on one side from being licked by a big dog tongue.  “When are you going back to college?”  She asked Matt, dropping into the corner chair at the breakfast bar and running a brush through her hair.  

“Never, I’m dropping out to pursue my dream career as a full-time bounty hunter.”  Matt replied, reaching for another plate and putting some pancakes on it.  He slid it over to her and then got a plate for himself.  She in turn slid the syrup bottle across the breakfast bar to him when she was done with it, the earlier incident seemingly forgiven.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* Sleepy cuddly Shiro is the best, pass it on
> 
> (also there is no greater betrayal than little sibs that STEAL their big sib’s room when they go off to college, even more than parents rearranging all the kitchen cabinets so that when you come back from college you can't find anything)


	3. The Whole Fan-damn-ly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Family reunion featuring That One Relative(TM). Everyone has one. You know the one. Also introducing: ANGST. More like Diet Angst but whatever.

After breakfast, Colleen recruited her kids to clean the downstairs “enough to fool Aunt Marie into thinking we’re tidy”.  She tried to tell Shiro to just relax, but he insisted on helping, so he was tasked with dusting the taller shelves due to his height.  

“What time is she coming?”  Matt asked, spraying glass cleaner on the coffee table.  

“She said she would be here at three.”  Colleen replied from the other room.  Shiro paused, confused.  They had to get ready  _ that  _ early?

“Which means she’ll be here at noon or one, in Marie time.”  Katie added.  

“Can someone teach her how to use a clock?”  Matt groaned.  “She’s like, what, eighty years old and hasn’t figured out how show up on time?”

Colleen poked her head around the corner to give him a sharp look.  “She’s only seven years older than me.”  

“Sorry, she’s forty?”  Matt flashed her a smile.  

She arched an eyebrow at him.  “Flattery will get you nowhere, honey.”    

“Sandwiches are ready,” Samuel called from the kitchen.  “I’ll put them in the fridge.  I made corned beef, and also a special avocado-and-tomato for the best wife in the universe.”  He leaned over to give Colleen a peck on the cheek.  

“Him, on the other hand, flattery can get pretty far.”  Colleen smiled, accepting the plate.

“Gross.”  Katie rolled her eyes.  “To that sandwich and the PDA.”

Shiro was in the middle of dusting a vase when Matt seized the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss as well.  Shiro was surprised, but smiled, his heart doing a funny little leap in his chest.  

“I’m running away to Keith’s house.”  Katie said flatly, chucking her dust-cloth at Matt.

“Where is this mysterious Keithy-boy?”  Matt asked, throwing the dust-cloth back at her.  “Do I get to meet him today?”

“He got food poisoning.”  Katie sighed.  “Apparently he forgot his lunch in his car when he went into work and then decided to eat it anyway after it had been sitting there for a few hours.  I  _ told  _ him it didn’t matter if it was in the shade, you can’t just eat chicken sandwiches after leaving them in the car.”  

“Ouch.”  Shiro winced.  

“Speaking of that, Mom,” Katie turned to her mother and batted her eyes.  “Don’t you think I should take some soup and crackers over to my poor, bed-ridden boyfriend?  And he’s probably lonely, I should keep him company…”

Colleen arched an eyebrow at her daughter, not fooled for a minute.  “You can make him some soup, but you’re not getting out of Aunt Marie’s visit that easily.”

“Was worth a shot.”  Katie shrugged, heading for the kitchen.

“Unbelievable,” Matt muttered to Shiro, shaking his head.  “All that fuss she made, and then it’s  _ her  _ boyfriend who’s MIA.  After all our effort…” 

Shiro chuckled.  “Things happen.  And so far, this weekend has been fun, so I don’t mind.”  He leaned over and wrapped an arm around Matt’s waist, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Hm.”  Matt made a noncommittal hum, fiddling with the nozzle of the spray bottle he was holding.  

Shiro looked down, concerned, and squeezed his waist a little.  “You okay?”  

“Yeah.  Fine.”  Matt cast a glance at his family, then jerked his head toward the door.  “Come help me clean the entryway?”

Confused, Shiro followed him to the front of the house, where Matt started lining up the haphazardly-tossed shoes into a neat line by the door.  “You sure you’re okay?”  Shiro asked.

Matt straightened up and pushed a hand through his hair, casting a quick look over his shoulder.  “I’m worried we might be laying it on a little thick.”  He whispered.  “I mean, if we’re going to stage a break-up soon, we don’t want to get… you know… We don’t want things to be too honeymoony and perfect now.”

Shiro looked down and straightened the doormat with his foot, the inside of his mouth tasting sour.  “Right.  Yeah, that’d look suspicious.”  He was an idiot.  He had already messed up again and this time he had probably made Matt feel uncomfortable.  He bet that was it.

“So, I don’t know, tone down the kissing and affectionate gestures?”  Matt suggested.  “Both of us, I mean.”

“Sure.”  It was probably just Matt that was feeling uncomfortable.

Matt’s eyes widened as they focused on something over Shiro’s shoulder.  “Oh no.”

“Oh no?”  Shiro gave him a confused look, but Matt turned on his heel and bolted, leaving Shiro alone in the entryway.  A sudden, loud  _ thunk _ came from the door, the noise making Shiro jump about a foot in the air.  Through the panes of frosted glass set into the top half of the door, he could see what looked like small fingers hanging onto the lip of the window and a blonde head.  Figuring this might be their guests -- he was serious about reserving judgement about people until he had met them -- Shiro opened the door to find a little girl, maybe only five or six, blinking up at him with wide hazel eyes.  

She stared up at him for a solid three seconds before pointing at him.  “Who are you?”

“My name’s Shiro,” he gave her a friendly smile.  “What’s your name?”

She didn’t answer, she just stared at him a bit more, then turned around and headed down the steps, calling out “Grammy!  There’s a strange man livin’ in Aunty Colleen’s house!”

“Oh, so she finally left that nerdy pilot guy?”  A woman’s voice called back as a woman on the older side of middle-aged came around the corner toting a large, bedazzled purse on one arm and a toddler in the other.  She stopped upon seeing Shiro, her eyebrows flying up to her hairline.  “A bit young for ol’ Colly.  Had no idea she was a cougar.”

“Oh, no, I’m not--”  Shiro tried to explain, but Colleen came to his rescue.

“Marie!”  She nudged Shiro out of the doorway, forced smile in place.  “So nice of you to drop by!  You’re mistaken, though, Shiro’s our guest and I assure you, Samuel and I are very happy with each other.”

“Hmph,” the woman turned up her nose.  “You can do better, you know.  You don’t have to settle.”

“We’ve… been married for twenty-five years…” Colleen said patiently.

“So?  It's called divorce!”

“What’s a cougar?”  The little girl waved her hand in the air.  

Shiro took that as his cue to leave.  He slipped away and retreated to the kitchen, where he found Matt and Katie stashing Katie’s laptop in the cupboard under the sink.

“Are you…?”  

“Preventative measures.”  Katie said, scooting a bottle of bleach out of the way and setting her laptop down amongst the cleaning supplies.  “Nowhere else is safe.”

“What did you think of her?”  Matt asked Shiro, handing a child safety lock to his sister.

“She’s not even in the house yet and I’ve already been accused of dating your mother.”  Shiro said, still a little bewildered by the whole ordeal.

Katie snorted as she clicked the lock in place over the cabinet handles and Matt placed a hand on his chest, looking both amused and affronted.  “How darest thee cheat on me with my own mother?”

“Katie!”  A high-pitched shriek came as the little girl came running around the corner and skidded to a halt by wrapping her arms around Katie’s waist, almost self-clotheslining herself.  “I wanna play Zelda!”

“What’s a Zelda?  I have no idea what you’re referring to.”  Katie said evasively.  

“Then can I play on your computer?”

“It broke.” Katie lied quickly.  “Completely shattered.  Utter travesty.  Broken beyond repair.  How about some yahtzee instead?”

“Booooring…” She groaned.  She peered around Katie and spotted Matt, who waved.  “I thought you died.”  She told him bluntly.

Katie snorted into her hand at the shocked look on Matt’s face.  “N-no, I just went to college.  I came back for a visit.”  

“Hmph.”  She didn’t look impressed.

“Well, it’s nice to see you too, Annabell.”  Matt patted her on the head.  

She shot him a glare that was really more of a pout and smoothed her pigtails out.  “Don’t touch my hair.”  She spoke with all the importance a six year-old could muster.  They heard the patter of little feet, then the toddler Marie had been carrying came waddling around the corner, a pacifier in his mouth.  

“Wow, little Trevor’s gotten so big!”  Matt scooped him up just as the toddler reached for the child-locked sink cabinet.  

“His name’s  _ Travis _ .”  Annabell wrinkled her nose.  “I thought college was supposed’ta make you smarter?”

“Aren’t you just the delight you always are…” Matt muttered under his breath.  

“I’m hungry!”  Annabell told Katie loudly.  

“Uncle Sammy made reuben sandwiches…”  

“I want PB&J!”  She cut her off.

“Alright,  _ fine _ , we can make you a special sandwich.”  Katie grit her teeth.  “Shiro, can you grab the peanut butter?  It’s on the top shelf of the pantry.”

“Got it,” Shiro slipped past the group and opened the pantry door, reaching for the jar of peanut butter.  He turned around and nearly walked right into Marie, who was frowning at him over the top of her glasses.  

“So, you’re Katie’s new boyfriend?”  She eyed him critically.

“Actually, he’s mine,” Matt slid up next to him with a smile, draping an arm across Shiro’s shoulders.  

“Your what?”  She raised an eyebrow.

“Boyfriend.”  Matt said.  

Her eyes flicked between the two of them.  “Boy.”  She repeated flatly, and Shiro braced himself for the worst.

“Yep.   _ Boy _ friend.”  Matt leaned up and pressed a kiss to Shiro’s cheek, which made his ears go red.  What happened to toning down the displays of affection?

“Two non-kosher things don’t make something kosher, you know.”  She told Matt.  

“Well then it’s a good thing I don’t eat my boyfriend.”  Matt replied.  Her eyes flashed dangerously.

“Are you hungry, Marie?  We made sandwiches.”  Samuel came to the rescue, plate of sandwiches in hand.  “And we have lemonade in the fridge or some drinks in the cooler out back, if you want.”  

Once they had all sat down for lunch -- Samuel, Colleen, Marie with Travis on her lap, and Annabell with her half a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich at the kitchen table in the corner, and Katie, Matt, and Shiro at the breakfast bar -- Shiro turned to Matt and nudged him with his elbow.  “How am I not kosher?”

“I’m guessing because you’re not Jewish and you’re a guy.”  Matt whispered back.  “Good thing I don’t care, nor do my parents.”

“I don’t even think  _ God _  cares.”  Katie added, positioning her phone behind her plate so Marie couldn’t see her texting, probably talking to Keith.  

While Marie loudly filled in the Holt parents on what sounded like all the family gossip, the three teens just concentrated on eating their lunches.  Matt set his phone between himself and Shiro and the two of them joint-browsed a twitter thread featuring different zoos and aquariums across the country having a competition for the cutest animal photo.  

“...And cousin Janice got herself a  _ nose job _ , of all things!  I told her, I said: ‘Janice, the  _ toxins _ in those things…’ but did she listen?  Of course not.  Oh and you know how Don has been--”

Shiro accidentally let out a quiet snort of amusement as he and Matt watched a gif of a baby lion cub getting startled walking past a mirror.

“I’m  _ sorry _ , is my brother’s knee surgery  _ amusing  _ to you?”  Marie’s voice made him look up.  Matt’s phone was back in his pocket instantly, quicker than Shiro could catch.

“Oh.  N-no, ma’am.”  Shiro said quickly, his ears burning.

“Then  _ what  _ were you laughing about?”  She asked.

“Um.”  Shiro thought quickly.  “Uh, Matt told me a joke.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “Well, Matthew?  Care to share it with the group?”

“Okay,” Matt pinched Shiro’s leg under the counter for throwing him under the bus.  “So, um, two atoms are walking down the street.  Suddenly one says ‘oh no!  I lost an electron!’  The other atom says ‘are you sure?’ and the atom says ‘yes, I’m positive!’”

There was a beat of silence, then Samuel burst out laughing.  “Haha, good one, son!  I’m gonna steal that and use it at work.”  Colleen hid her smile in her hand, and Katie snickered.

Marie just gave him a suspicious look.  “Hmph.  Amusing.”  With that she turned and jumped back into her story to Colleen, still shooting periodic glares in the direction of the breakfast bar as if trying to catch them misbehaving again.

Matt stretched his arms above his head before draping an arm across Shiro’s shoulders.  He leaned in close to his ear.  “You, mister, are such a little shit.”

Shiro cocked an eyebrow at him.  “Did you just pull ‘the move’ on me?”  

“You betcha, sunshine.”  Matt gave him a peck on the lips, leaving Shiro confused.  Wasn’t it Matt who said less than an hour ago how they should be dialing back on the PDA?  But then he noticed Matt’s eyes flick over to his aunt, who frowned at the display.  Oh.  

Matt’s arm started to feel a little heavier, and Shiro found himself feeling a bit uncomfortable with it for the first time.    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously debated restructuring this so that Marie was on Samuel’s side JUST so I could make a joke about “the Holt fandamnly” (get it? Rhymes with “whole”...) but I thought that was a stretch even for me, the king of bad puns.


	4. Stormy Skies and Silver Linings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trade that Diet Angst in for something a little stronger lmao. And then throw it away and get a big cup of Wholesome Fluff instead.

After lunch ended -- by Annabell interrupting one of her grandmother’s rants to loudly announce that she was done, despite the fact that she had left about a sixth of the sandwich and the crusts behind -- Colleen suggested the teens take the kids into the living room and play a game there while the older folks had some coffee.  

“Alright, kidlets,” Katie said, opening up the cabinet under the television set.  “We’ve got checkers, chess, chinese checkers, go, backgammon, yahtzee…”

“Why do you only have boring games?”  Annabell pouted.  

“Because we are all very boring people who don’t like fun.”  Matt replied.  

She reached over and patted his knee.  “At least you’re aware’a it.”

Matt struggled to keep a straight face while Katie didn’t even try to hide her laughter.  

“How about connect-four?”  Shiro said, spotting the box tucked into the back.  That seemed like something a child would enjoy.

“What’s that?”  She tilted her head, pigtails bobbing.  

“It’s a game where you try to get four in a row, see?”  Shiro pointed to the picture on the box.  “It’s fun.”

Katie set up the game and sat on one side while Annabell was on the other, Shiro helping her.  Matt sat next to him, holding Travis and making sure the little toddler didn’t try and eat any of the game pieces.  

“You’re good with kids,” Matt commented quietly, wrapping the arm that wasn’t holding the toddler around Shiro’s waist.  

“I’ve done my fair share of babysitting.”  Shiro said, leaning into his hold for a minute.  Matt leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, making Shiro’s heart flutter.  But then he glanced over toward the kitchen and noticed Marie glowering at them again.  He sighed and pulled away from Matt to point Annabell in the direction of a good strategic spot to drop a game piece, his mood darkening.  

As the day went on, Shiro couldn’t help but notice that any time Matt was remotely affectionate, it was because Marie was looking their way, and he would always pull back from the kiss or hug with a smug little smirk on his lips.  It was really starting to get on Shiro’s nerves.   _ Matt  _ had been the one to suggest toning down the PDA, and yet here he was, using it and using  _ Shiro  _ as a way to dig under his aunt’s skin.  It was annoying and rude, in Shiro’s opinion, and he found his temper growing shorter and shorter with every instance of it.  The final straw came, though, when they were all sitting on the couches in the living room and Marie was again on a rant about some distant cousin’s terrible, no-good, college-drop-out boyfriend, and Matt pressed up right next to Shiro, wound their arms together and took his hand, and rested his other hand on Shiro’s knee.  He didn’t know what it was about a hand on the knee that felt more intimate than kissing, but he hadn’t given Matt permission to touch there and the knowledge that he was only doing it to make someone mad just burned down the last bit of patience Shiro had.  

Shiro tried to be as subtle as possible as he wrenched his hand out of Matt’s grip and stood up.  “I’m going to get a drink.”  He said, in answer to the questioning looks sent his way.  He didn’t meet Matt’s eyes as he left the room and retreated outside.  Opening up the cooler set on the back patio, he crouched down and dug around in the ice for a minute, trying to stall for time so he wouldn’t have to go back inside.  

He heard the back door open and close behind him, then Matt’s voice.  “What’s your deal, man?”

“Nothing.”  Shiro said, digging a can of soda out of the cooler and shaking the water off it.

“Really?”  Matt crossed his arms.  “Because you seem pissed off about something.”

Shiro turned around, fixing him with a cold glare.  “Look, maybe I don’t like you using me just to piss off your aunt.  That’s a pretty shitty move.”

“How is that shitty?”  Matt asked.  “The whole reason we’re doing this is to fool people, anyway.  What’s one more person?”

“That’s what you think?”  Shiro asked.

“Uh,  _ yeah _ .”  Matt said.  “That’s kinda the whole point.  And to make people believe it, we’ve gotta do that kind of stuff, PDA and hand-holding and all that shit.”  

“Oh,  _ now  _ you want to do that.”  Shiro rolled his eyes.  “You didn’t think we had to sell it so much just a few hours ago.  Remember, you’re the one who wanted to break up after this.”

“Of course we have to break up!”  Matt hissed, throwing his hands up in frustration.  “Shiro, this isn’t even real, of course we have to break up eventually!”

“Well maybe I don’t want to.”  Shiro said quietly.

Matt stopped and stared at him.  “What?”

“Maybe I don’t want to break up.”  Shiro repeated, glaring at him.  

“Shiro, we can’t just keep pretending--”

“What if I’m not pretending?”  Shiro cut him off.  

Matt stared at him.  “...What are you saying?”

Shiro looked down at the soda can in his hands.  So Matt didn’t feel the same way about him as he did.  How could he, if he didn’t even know what Shiro was saying?  He sighed.  “I’m going to take a walk.”  He said, pushing the soda can into Matt’s hands as he passed.  He left without another word, and Matt let him go just as silently.  

~~~~~

Matt sat on the back door step with his elbows resting on his knees, staring at the can of soda in his hands.  What did Shiro mean by that; that he didn’t want to break up?  They  _ had  _ to, eventually.  They couldn’t keep this up their whole lives.  The longer it went on, the riskier it would get, in terms of someone finding out.  If they just staged a break-up, they could stop acting like this and put this whole thing behind them.  Go back to the way things were.

He could get closure.  

He wouldn’t have to hold Shiro’s hand anymore, feel how warm and solid it was, always giving him a reassuring squeeze when he was nervous.  He wouldn’t have to sit so close to him, legs touching and in such an easy position to just lean on his shoulder.  He wouldn’t have to deal with the strange little leaps his heart did whenever Shiro kissed him, and the sickening drop in his chest when he remembered Shiro was just acting.  He wouldn’t have to share a bed with him anymore, wouldn’t have to deal with Shiro just casually laying across him and prompting an internal crisis with just the heat of his arm tossed over Matt’s chest, wouldn’t lie awake at night afraid to move or breathe too much because it would disturb him and he might move away in his sleep, or worse, might wake up, realize what he was doing, and then move to the other side of the bed.  Matt had barely gotten a wink of sleep the night before, and it was all Shiro’s fault.  Shiro and his big, dumb, warm, incredibly buff arm.  

Matt really needed this fake-dating break-up.  He needed the closure it would give him, to realize it was all a farce and just move on.  That’s all he wanted.

So why didn’t Shiro?

The door opened behind him and his dad came out, shutting the door behind him.  “Generally, the next step to drinking a soda is opening the can.”  He said, digging a beer out of the cooler.  

Matt sighed, letting the soda can hang from one hand while he pushed the other through his hair.  “Yeah, I know.”  

“Mind if I join you?”  Samuel asked, sitting down on the step beside him.  Matt just shrugged, not feeling like talking.  Samuel cracked open the top of his beer and took a sip.  “Where did Shiro go?”

“Don’t know.”  Matt groused, glaring at the patio stone under his feet.  “Said he was going to take a walk or something.  Maybe he’ll get lost and I won’t have to look at his dumb face anymore.”

“Hm,” Samuel hummed thoughtfully.  “Trouble in paradise?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘paradise’...” Matt grumbled.  “More like a minefield.”

“Ouch.  Harsh criticism.”  Samuel said.  “Did something happen?”

Matt sighed.  “I don’t know.  Everything was fine and we were on the same page, and then suddenly… now we’re not.”

“That happens.”  Samuel said.  “Personally, I think you boys have great chemistry.  If you were on the same page before, I think you can get there again.”

“I’m not sure that’s the page I want to be on.”  Matt said quietly.  Part of him didn’t want to go back to this fake-dating situation; it just hurt too much whenever he remembered that it was just acting.  He wondered how Shiro felt about it.

“What page do you want to be on?”  

Matt dropped his head into his hands.  “I don’t know.”

“What page does Shiro want to be on?”

“I… don’t know.”  

“Well, those two questions are a good place to start.”  Samuel said.  “It’s hard to ask, sometimes, but in the long run, it’s always easier than dancing around the issue.  Who knows?  Maybe you both want the same things after all.  And if not, well… Shiro’s a nice boy, but there are plenty of other fish in the sea.”

“I don’t want to break up with him.”  Matt said, his voice quiet.  He hadn’t realized it, until that moment when his father said there would be others out there.  No matter how many fish were in the sea, none of them were Shiro.  Shiro was funny and sweet and kind and smart and a fantastic friend who he couldn’t bear to think of losing.  Even if he ‘broke up’ with Shiro, he wouldn’t be able to get over him.

“Then you don’t have to.”  Samuel said.  “But what you  _ do  _ have to do is talk to him.” 

Matt sighed.  “I guess you’re right.”  He stood up.  “Thanks, Dad.”  

“Anytime, son,” Samuel gave him his signature smile, all soft eyes and a crooked curl to his lips.  “I’ll cover for you, too.”  

“Thanks,” Matt nodded, then took off jogging around the house and down the street.  Okay, there were basically two places Shiro might be: at the one place Matt had taken him besides the house, or just wandering aimlessly around the winding streets of their subdivision.  He decided to try the park, first, since it was a smaller area and only a few blocks from the house.  

Considering it was a Saturday afternoon, the park was relatively quiet.  There were a couple of kids playing on the new-looking, shiny, colorful playground equipment (hey, that hadn’t been here when  _ he  _ was a kid…) but the old sandbox, tall metal slide, and ancient steel merry-go-round from Matt’s childhood were all standing sad and empty, save for one mopey, dark-haired man sitting on the edge of the merry-go-round.  Matt’s shoes crunched over the woodchips as he made his way over to the merry-go-round, stopping in front of him.  “Hey,”

Shiro looked up.  He blinked.  “Did you… carry that can of soda all the way here?”  

Matt looked down and realized he had.  He had forgotten he was holding it.  “...Apparently.”  He sighed and sat down on the merry-go-round, careful to keep about a foot of distance between them.  Tapping the top of the can, he pulled the tab to crack it open.  “Want some?  It’ll probably be warm before much longer.”

Shiro considered it.  “Sure.”  

Matt passed him the can, and Shiro picked it up by the top, fingers barely brushing his own.  Even that little bit of contact felt like he was burning.  Matt rubbed his hands together while Shiro took a sip of the soda.  Surely it just had to be the coldness of the can, that was it.

They watched the kids on the playground trying to make it across the monkey bars.  The little girl got halfway before she fell, but she popped right back up and started to climb the stairs to try again.  “What are we doing, Shiro?”  Matt asked quietly. 

Shiro set the can down between them, a quiet  _ clunk  _ of aluminum against steel.  He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair.  “I thought I knew.  Now… I don’t know.”

Matt was quiet for several long minutes.  “I think… somewhere along the way, the lines got blurred.”  He picked up the can of soda, turning it around in a circle in his hands.  “Now we have to figure out if we should draw them again, or… or leave them be.”  He took a sip of the soda.  It was lukewarm, the carbonation stinging his throat on the way down.  

“I don’t want to leave things as they are.”  Shiro admitted, and Matt’s heart squeezed painfully.  So Shiro didn’t feel that way.  Not like he really expected him to.  

Matt set the can down and started to stand up.  “Sorry--”

“No.”  Shiro’s words made him stop.  “I meant… we shouldn’t leave things as they are  _ right now _ , with both of us mad at each other.  I want to try and fix that, at least.  We might not have known each other for very long, but you’re already too good of a friend to lose over something like this.”

“Something like this?”  Was that how Shiro saw it?  Something small and insignificant?

“A miscommunication.”  Shiro explained.  “I think… at some point, I forgot that this was supposed to be pretend.  I let myself slip into thinking we were really together, and I’m sorry for letting you down like that.”

Matt felt his heart skip a beat.  “You thought it was real?”  

Shiro winced and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah.  I don’t know, doing all those things and acting that way… I guess I must have been a good actor, because I was even able to fool myself along with everyone else.”

“Did you want it to be real?”  Matt asked, heart pounding in anticipation.

Shiro was quiet for a long minute, then he reached for the can again.  “Yeah, I guess I did.”  He said, taking another sip.

A smile spread across Matt’s lips.  “I did, too.”

Shiro looked up, shocked.  “Really?”

“Yep.”  Matt smiled.  “Hey, I like your face.  Wanna go out?”

Shiro stared at him for a few moments, then chuckled.  “Your nerdy romantic-ineptitude is endearing.”  He said, smiling back.  “I like your face, too.  Yeah, let’s go out.  For real, this time.”

“Good thing we have so much practice, then.”  Matt said, holding his hand out.  

“Well, you know what they say.”  Shiro threaded their fingers together, and it felt warm and just  _ right _ .  “Practice makes perfect.”

“Practice makes perfect.”  Matt said, leaning over the mostly-empty soda can to press a kiss to Shiro’s cheek.

~~~~~

The two of them finished off the rest of the soda between them, threw the can in the recycling bin, and walked home, hand in hand the whole way.  They got back just in time to see Katie leaving the house holding a tupperware container of soup and a box of saltine crackers.  

“Where are you off to?”  Matt asked.

“Keith’s.”  Katie replied.  “I’m taking some soup to my idiotic but lovable boyfriend.”  She unlocked the car and set the tupperware on the passenger seat, then closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.  “Did you guys work out whatever weirdness was going on between you for the past couple hours?”  She asked, eyeing their joined hands.

“You could tell?”  Matt asked, stunned.  

She rolled her eyes.  “Please, you’re looking at the  _ queen  _ of passive-aggressive anger.  I knew something was up, I just didn’t know what.  Nor do I want to know.  Keep your deets to yourself.  But speaking of that.”  She marched right up to them and planted herself in front of Shiro, pointing her car key a few inches away from his face.  “You seem like a cool guy, Shiro, but rest assured, if you do something to hurt my brother, I  _ will  _ track down your ISP and make your digital life a living hell.”  She stepped back and flashed them a smile.  “I’ll be back in a couple hours, have fun!  Sounds like Dad is trying to wrap up Marie’s visit, so text me when she leaves and I’ll come back.”  She wiggled her fingers at them with a smile before getting in the car and driving off.

“...Did your sister just give me a shovel talk?”  Shiro said.  The top of her head was probably level with the middle of Shiro’s chest, and he couldn’t see her weighing much more than a hundred pounds.  Objectively, not the most intimidating, but she definitely had a much fiercer aura about her when she wanted to.  

“Don’t underestimate her.”  Matt warned.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”  Shiro said.  Another thought occurred to him.  “Do you think we should… I don’t know, say something about actually being together now?  Or just pretend nothing’s changed?”

Matt thought about it.  “I don’t really want to admit we were pretending.  And besides, as far as they know, nothing has changed.  I think we’re the only ones that need to know the truth.”

“I mean, you did ask me out with the same winning line.”  Shiro grinned slyly, squeezing his hand.  

“Well, I do like your face, and I want to go out with you.”  Matt bumped him with his shoulder.  “If you don’t like it, come up with a better pick-up line, casanova.”

“No, I like it.”  Shiro smiled, leaning down to kiss him.  This kiss was longer and felt more genuine than the other pecks had.  Matt let go of his hand to link his arms around the back of his neck, and Shiro’s hand came up to cradle Matt’s cheek as he tilted his head into a better angle and kissed him more fully.  

“In  _ broad daylight _ !”  A voice said loudly, and they jumped apart.  “In front of God and everyone!”  

“Heeey, Aunt Marie!”  Matt greeted, his voice a bit higher pitched than usual.  “Heading out already?”

She frowned at him, shifting the toddler on her shoulder so he was facing away from them.  “You’re lucky my little Annabell is still putting on her shoes, you know.  Have you no shame?  You think your parents made out in broad daylight?”

“My parents have never even held hands.”  Matt said with utmost seriousness.

“Don’t you sass me, Matthew.”  She told him.  “Goodness, between your sister running off to  _ her  _ boyfriend’s and you two making out on the front lawn… and you know, in my day, when family came to visit, we actually  _ enjoyed  _ talking with them instead of trying to get out of it.  Sneaking off to canoodle in public… how deplorable!”  She huffed, shaking her head as Samuel and Annabell came outside, the little girl showing her uncle how her sneakers lit up when she stomped her feet.  Marie turned to Colleen.  “Isn’t that right?”  

“Yes, Matthew, how dare you canoodle your partner.”  Samuel winked at them and put an arm around his wife’s waist, giving her a peck on the cheek.  Colleen rolled her eyes and attempted to look exasperated, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact she was fighting back a smile.  

“Hmph,” Marie took her granddaughter’s hand.  “Come on, Annabell, time to go home.”

“Bye bye!”  The little girl waved at them all, bouncing in place to make her sneakers light up.  They all waved and called out goodbyes with varying degrees of enthusiasm as the minivan pulled out of their driveway and drove off down the street.  

“Alright you two,” Samuel put his hands on his hips.  “Come canoodle inside, if you’re going to canoodle at all.”

“You’re going to be saying that word all day, aren’t you?”  Colleen sighed.  

“As much as I  _ can- _ oodle.”  Samuel grinned.

“Dad, you’ve already won the award for best worst dad-joke every year,” Matt groaned.  “No need to be an overachiever.”  

“Nonsense,” Samuel said, heading for the kitchen.  “Dear, let’s have some leftover noodle kugel and canoodle oodles.”

“I’m divorcing you.”  Colleen rolled her eyes, while Matt and Shiro just burst out laughing.  

~~~~~

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly watching a movie that was playing on TV.  Shiro pulled ‘the move’ on Matt this time, who just smiled and snuggled up closer to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist in return.  Katie came home a couple hours later, rescued her laptop from its under-sink confinement, and sat draped sideways on the armchair in the corner, periodically glancing between her laptop and the movie playing on the TV.  When dinnertime started rolling around, Colleen declared that dealing with her cousin all day warranted a night without cooking, so they ordered a pizza from the Holts’ favorite pizza place in town and unanimously decided to watch a Star Trek movie (which was frequently interrupted by Samuel and Colleen reminiscing on the older series they had watched in college).  

When Shiro went back to the guest room after his shower, later that night, Matt was already in bed, reading something on his phone.  

“Hey,” Shiro greeted, shoving his clothes into his duffle bag.  

“Oh, before you get into bed, lemme just…” Matt made a show of setting his phone on the table, stretching, and settling into a comfortable position, smirking at Shiro, who just raised an eyebrow at him.  “You know, in case you decide to pin me down again.”  Matt explained.

“That was an  _ accident _ …” Shiro groaned, climbing into the other side of the bed.  “If you want, I’ll stick to my own side tonight.”  He said it like a joke, but was really just testing the waters, uncertain how much of this Matt wanted to do.  

“I don’t know, I kinda liked it.”  Matt said, scooting closer.  “Did you?”

“I mean, I was mostly unconscious for the majority of it.”  Shiro chuckled.  “I wouldn’t mind trying it again, though.”

“Glad we’re on the same page.”  Matt smiled, taking his arm and rolling over so that they were spooning and Shiro’s arm was around his waist.  Shiro pressed a kiss to the back of his neck and closed his eyes.  

He was just drifting off to sleep when he noticed a light shining through his closed eyelids.  Matt had his phone out again, propping it up against a pillow.  Shiro groaned and reached around to pluck it out of his hands.  “Shhh, sleepy-time…” he murmured, setting his phone on the bedside table.

“I’m starting to think dating you is going to be good for my sleep schedule.”  Matt chuckled, settling down.  

~~~~~ 

The next morning, after another delicious breakfast of eggs and hash-browns, Matt and Shiro admitted that they did need to get back and do some homework for the Monday classes the next day.  Colleen gave them a whole mini-cooler full of food to take back with them and made her son promise to eat less instant ramen.  There were many goodbye’s and thank-you-for-having-us’s with hugs given all around, then the two of them drove off in Shiro’s car, Matt waving to his family until they turned the corner.  

“Well, this was certainly an eventful weekend.”  Matt said, sitting back.  Shiro took a hand off the steering wheel to thread their fingers together on top of the center console.  

“It sure was,” Shiro agreed.

They held hands for the entirety of the drive back to campus.             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked it! Thanks for reading!


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